


A New Plan

by Tangledfangirl



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-10
Updated: 2020-04-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:15:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23579779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tangledfangirl/pseuds/Tangledfangirl
Summary: In between Cassandra's Revenge and Race to the Spire, the group has a meeting.
Relationships: Angry | Keira & Red | Catalina (Disney), Angry | Keira & Varian (Disney), Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Lance Strongbow, Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider & Varian, Eugene Fitzherbert | Flynn Rider/Rapunzel, Lance Strongbow & Varian, Rapunzel & Varian (Disney), Red | Catalina & Lance Strongbow, Red | Catalina & Varian (Disney)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 84





	A New Plan

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfic ever! Please enjoy :)

“So, I think Cassandra’s officially lost it,” Varian announced, throwing his arms up.  
“You think?” Eugene scoffed.  
It was the day after Cassandra had crashed Eugene’s birthday party and tortured Varian to get the scroll, allowing her access to a deadly incantation that gave her the power to completely wield the black rocks. Morale was pretty low throughout the group. Although they’d tried their best to make the most of Eugene’s real birthday in the evening when the battle was over, their minds were all still locked on an image of Cassandra, her eyes wild, flinging black rocks around them with no remorse. It was time for the conversation they’d all been dreading: how to defeat their former friend.  
“No, I mean, I think she’s actually going crazy,” Varian continued.  
Nine pairs of eyes locked on him, four of them those of animals. Owl was the most skeptical, from his perch on Eugene’s shoulder, but that was probably since he’d known Cassandra the longest of the group. He’d been her pet since she was a young girl, and her betrayal was almost as difficult for him as it was for Rapunzel.  
“Actually going crazy, like…” Kiera made a spinning motion with her finger by the side of her head as she added onto Varian’s statement. The boy nodded, and both girls winced.  
“When I was alone with her, she seemed to be-” Varian began, but Rapunzel held up a hand, interrupting him.  
“That’s right!” she exclaimed. “She kidnapped you, so you had some time alone with her. You must have more information than all of us!”  
“What makes you think that she’s gone ballistic?” Eugene asked, always one to stick to the point.  
“She was… well, talking to someone,” Varian answered, shuddering at the memory. “Someone that was invisible and inaudible, apparently. They were having a full-on conversation, but I could only see and hear Cassandra.”  
Kiera and Catalina exchanged a worried glance while Lance leaned forward, intrigued. “What were they- I mean, what was she saying?”  
Varian wracked his brain, trying to remember all that Cassandra had been saying to… whoever she was talking to. “Well, whoever it was, she was doing whatever he or she said. She would, uh, ask a lot of questions, and say things like ‘okay’, and ‘sure’. It was almost like… she wasn’t really thinking for herself at all.”  
“So she’s having a conversation with some invisible guide that only she can see that is convincing her to wreak havoc on everyone she loves? That’s delightful.” Eugene’s tone was sarcastic, but Varian could see a hint of worry in his eyes.  
“Whoever it is,” Rapunzel continued, “She was talking to it in the Demanitus Chamber as well. I thought she was just talking to herself, but that explains everything!”  
“Did this… thing tell her how to create her tower?” Catalina asked, glancing out the window where the tip of Cassandra’s black rock tower could be seen in the distance.  
Shaking his head, Varian remembered the crazed look in Cassandra’s eyes when she’d forced the incantation out of him. He’d put off telling the others about that for as long as he could, but now, there seemed to be no choice.  
“No, she used the incantation for that. I- I told her the incantation.” He looked down at his feet, ashamed even though he’d had no choice.  
Rapunzel came over to him with a sad smile, putting one hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Varian. You had to tell her, or she would have… she would have tortured you, wouldn’t she?” Her eyes were kind as they looked at the young boy, but filled with pain at the same time.  
With a determined look in his eyes, Varian shook his head. “She could have done whatever she wanted to me, and I still wouldn’t have told her. It was my own fault that she was able to. Cass- she drugged me.”  
“She drugged you?” Lance asked, jumping from his chair. Ruddiger, who’d settled down for a nap, went flying, but Catalina caught him before he could go splat on the floor. She set him in her lap, where he immediately resumed his nap. “With what?”  
“My own truth serum,” Varian admitted, feeling his cheeks burn. “She gave it to me while I was sleeping, and I had no choice but to tell her.”  
Clenching his fists, Eugene got up and went over to the window, looking at the tower. “If I get my hands on Little Miss Moonstone, there won’t be anything to stop me from tearing her to pieces-”  
“Eugene, calm down,” Rapunzel told him, putting a hand on his back.  
“Blondie, she stole from the princess, shot black rocks at all of us, and kidnapped and drugged a minor!” Eugene nearly shouted, gesturing to Varian. “He’s not even old enough to drink yet, and she force-fed him his own serum while he was sleeping! Plus, she crashed my birthday party! No one who does that deserves to go without punishment!”  
“In fairness, I did use that same serum to drug half the kingdom,” Varian added, picking at the peeling paint on his goggles.  
“True, but you didn’t force-feed people the cookies. They chose to eat them.” Eugene pointed out, some of his anger fading.  
“It’s not your fault, V.” Kiera assured him, coming over and resting her head on his shoulder. Catalina went over to the other side, and pretty soon, both girls were sitting next to him on the couch, leaning into him like he was their older brother. Varian wrapped his arms around the girls, glad that at least they were on his side.  
“What happened after that?” Lance asked, picking up the discarded Ruddiger and putting the raccoon back on his lap.  
“Well, she used the incantation to build her black rock tower, and then she took me to the top of it, talking to her little friend the whole way. At the top, Cass said that she knew that this whole thing isn’t my fault, and she didn’t want to hurt me. That’s good, right?” Varian continued his story.  
“That’s rich, coming from her,” Eugene muttered.  
“I really tried to talk to her. I know what it’s like, to feel how she’s feeling. To feel like the whole world has turned their back on you,” Varian continued, closing his eyes. He still remembered what it was like when you completely lost yourself to the stored-up anger and hate. The last thing he wanted was for Cassandra to go as far as he did. “I told her that, but she wouldn’t listen to me. She just said that this was her own choice, that she wasn’t lost like I told her she was. But when I tried to tell her that she was losing her mind like I did, she locked me in a black rock cage and wouldn’t listen to me. That’s when you all came to save me.”  
“Varian, you tried,” Rapunzel assured him, giving him one of her million-dollar smiles.  
“I know I did,” Varian continued, feeling tears begin to come to his eyes. “But if anyone was going to help her know and realize that what she’s doing is wrong, it was me. I- I should have tried harder.”  
He didn’t even know that he’d succumbed to the tears until Catalina’s hand was wiping the tears away from his cheek, her small hand feeling cool and nice against his burning face.  
“All of this that Cassandra is doing, it’s her choice, Varian.” Eugene assured him. “You couldn’t have done anything to stop her besides what you did, and it’s her problem if she won’t listen to you.”  
“That’s where I’m not so sure,” Varian replied, his voice soft and quiet. Eugene looked at him curiously, and he elaborated. “I can’t help but feel like she’s not making all the choices for herself. That… that voice that she’s listening to has something to do with it, I’m sure.”  
“The way I see it, there are two choices for whatever that thing could be,” Rapunzel chimed in, getting up and pacing. “One, it’s some kind of spirit or ghost that only she can see, because of the Moonstone. It may be manipulating her, using her anger to convince her to do everything that she’s been doing. Why, I’m not so sure. Maybe it has a plan that it’s using Cass as a pawn in, but we can deal with that when we come to it.  
“The second option… maybe you’re right, Varian, and Cassandra has gone crazy. Maybe she’s seeing things, hallucinating, which would explain why she’s, you know, drugging minors and reciting ancient incantations. Who knows, maybe her insanity caused her to take the Moonstone in the first place, or maybe the Moonstone is causing it. Either way, we’re going to need to find out which option it is before we can do anything else.” Rapunzel concluded her speech and sat down next to Eugene, whose anger had faded as he retreated back to the other couch.  
“Who would it be, if it is the first option?” Eugene wondered. “Maybe one of Zhan Tiri’s cronies, trying to release their master? And somehow using the Moonstone to do it?”  
Maximus began whinnying, and ran over to Rapunzel’s notebook. Pascal jumped over to his friend, and began flipping pages until Maximus stopped him, proudly pointing at a figure on the page with his hoof.  
“It’s the entry from when one of his disciples used the painting class to try to release him!” Rapunzel exclaimed. “Remember that, Lance?”  
“How could I forget it?” the large man muttered. “And I was getting so good at painting, too.”  
“Max, are you pointing at… the silhouette of Zhan Tiri?” Rapunzel asked. The horse proudly nodded, and Rapunzel shook her head.  
“It can’t be Zhan Tiri that Cass is listening to. She knows how evil Zhan Tiri is; after all, she and Eugene worked together to rescue everyone from the spell. Besides, Zhan Tiri has been trapped in another realm for millennia.” Max whinnied again, disappointed. Pascal gently patted his nose, trying to encourage his friend.  
“It must be someone else, then.” Rapunzel continued. “Someone that’s getting in her head, using her own insecurities to convince her to be an enemy! That explains so much.”  
“But it still doesn’t make it right, Blondie.” Eugene pointed out, and Rapunzel sighed.  
“I know, Eugene.”  
They all sat there for a second, both mourning the loss of the friend they’d known and feeling angry at her for everything she’d done and made them go through.  
“If it’s the second option, then,” Catalina broke the silence, biting her lip in concentration. “We have to take the Moonstone from her in order to get her back, and then she’s going to need some serious therapy.”  
“I think Cass is going to need therapy when this is all said and done, no matter what her reasoning is,” Eugene added. “Frankly, she needed therapy a long time ago, but would she admit it? Noooo, she just went on pretending that she didn’t have serious mental problems when she very clearly did. Still does, actually.”  
“Well, we’ll be able to help her, if she lets us.” Rapunzel determinedly added. “But first, we have to get the Moonstone away from her and unite it with my Sundrop to end this whole thing. I think the Moonstone is doing something to her physically, too. Did you notice how pale she was?”  
“Yeah, even paler than usual,” Varian added. “I assumed it was because she was lacking iron -who knows how long it’s been since she’s eaten a full meal- but it may be due to the Moonstone.”  
“We have to do something to save her.” Rapunzel agreed.  
“True,” Eugene admitted, pulling her in close. “But for now, I say we’ve had enough drama for the time being. Blondie, let’s say you and I go down to the Snuggly Duckling for a drink?”  
Rapunzel smiled, giving him a quick kiss and standing up. “Okay!” she chirped, her excitement evident in her voice.  
Lance smiled at the kids, still snuggling together on the couch. “What do you say I take you three out for milkshakes? It’s on me!”  
All three of them cheered, immediately jumping up to join him. Lance swung Catalina on his back, smiling at the small girl as she wrapped her arms around his neck. They followed Rapunzel and Eugene out of the room, Varian trailing behind the girls and Lance. Although he tried to keep his mind off of the underlying problems with Cassandra, he couldn’t help but see her face everywhere he looked, blue hair waving in her face and bright blue eyes drilling a hole through him.  
I chose to lose my doubts and lost my chains, lose each weakness that remains. Her voice echoed in his head like a ghost, sounding so real that he felt she was actually there with him.  
Yes, Cass, he thought. You may have lost all that, but lost so much along with it.  
She was going through so much pain that underlined her villainy, and he knew what that was like. The only honorable thing to do was to try and help her find her way, whatever the cost.  
I’m going to get you back, Cassandra, he thought, determination rising in his chest. If it’s the last thing I ever do.


End file.
